Support for Vijender, Ram Singh expelled

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Last Updated: Sun, Mar 10, 2013 14:24 hrs

National level boxer Ram Singh has been expelled by the National Institute of Sports in Patiala after he admitted to taking drugs even as India's iconic boxer and Olympian Vijender Singh is likely to be quizzed by the police to ascertain if he had taken drugs or kept links with an arrested NRI drug dealer.

But even as Ram Singh, a close friend of Vijender, was expelled Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said he hoped that Vijender was perhaps not involved in the case.

Hooda, however, added that "law will take its own course."

Vijender was also supported by his coach GS Sandhu.

India´s national boxing coach Sandhu said Vijender never took any medicine without checking it first.

Sandhu said since Vijender knew that a dope test will ruin his career he was always very cautious and tested negative in every test.

Vijender Singh´s name surfaced after a drug dealer was nabbed by the Punjab Police during a raid at Zirakpur in Mohali and heroin worth Rs 130 crore was recovered.

According to media reports, Ram Singh reportedly told police that Vijender had taken drugs six times and they were in touch with the arrested peddler Anup Singh Kahlon since December last.

Even though India´s star boxer had refuted allegations that he experimented with drugs, his fellow boxer Ram Singh has claimed that he and Vijender were indeed in touch with the peddler.

However, police sources have also said that they do not believe that Vijendra Singh had knowledge about the international smuggling ring that the arrested dealer was allegedly a part of.

"We are investigating... we are working very hard once we conclude we will let you know," Fathegarh Sahib SSP Hardyal Singh Mann was quoted as saying.

According to a TV report, Ram Singh admitted buying drugs from Kahlon for him and Vijender and also named a former cop, identified as Jagdish Singh Bhola, as a leader of the racket.

Police had raided the flat of the peddler in Zirakpur and recovered 26 kg of heroin worth Rs 130 crore. Vijender´s name cropped up also because his wife´s car was found parked outside the building that housed the flat.

The Beijing Games bronze medallist earlier said his friends did use the car to drop him at the airport but was clueless as how it reached Zirakpur.

"I am shocked. I don´t know how the car reached the spot in Zirakpur. My friends did use the car to drop me at the airport but what I don´t know what happened after," said the former World No.1, who is a deputy superintendent of police in Haryana.

Vijender admitted that he had met the accused Anup Singh Kahlon once through Ram but doesn´t know him personally. Kahlon, who is an NRI, reportedly has claimed close links with Vijender and Ram.

"I don´t know him personally. I think my name is being misused in this case. How can you trust a drug dealer. I think every thing will be cleared soon," he said.

Kahlon and his associate Kulwinder Singh were arrested in connection with the drugs recovery Thursday night. The heroin was recovered from an Kahlon´s flat in Zirakpur, on the outskirts of Chandigarh. Police also recovered Rs 13.86 lakh from them.